doc has me on "banned" meds...

[circusgirl]

I thought I'd ask here instead of over on the PL board. I won't be competing any time soon but there's one little problem that's likely to become an issue whenever I do.

My doc has me on an antidepressant long term plus a small dose of an anti-psychotic to counter the side-effects of the antidepressant, which are agitation, ie, tremendous difficulty settling down to sleep in the evengins etc.

Problem is, apparently the british powerlifting federation do not allow antipsychotics. The IOC and weightlifting boards have NO problem with these. They do not enhance performance at all basically, I ahve no idea why the PL federation ban them.

Experiments involving stopping the meds have not worked, basically, without it, I get more and more agitated to the point where I spend all my free time pacing up and down my appartment, until 3am....

What's the procedure with this? Can I still compete if I get a doctor's letter and clear it with meet directors beforehand?

 

[b fold the truth]

Is there any way that you can speak with the committee yourself?

I would be as upfront with them as possible...

B True

 

[Thaibox]

What are the exact drugs you're talking about. There are alternatives in different classes of drug that may not be a problem. Have you told your doc about this problem?

 

[circusgirl]

Thanks for your comments! I don't have a meet any time soon, but as these drugs are a permanent prescription (don't fancy any more hospital stays) they will still be a problem in 9 months' time or whenever I enter a meet.

I know that for events that are overseen by olympic rules, (clean, snatch etc) you can get permission in advance for some meds like respiratory tract infection drugs etc that are usually banned if you get a letter beforehand etc.

I tried asking my club but they said hey, don't worry, you're not competing yet - but I thought I'd find out now rather than 3 weeks before a meet. My club is not concerned as they are just worried about members doing AAS without telling them, anything else, in their mind, is not a huge problem.

The main problem with changing meds is many antipsychotics (I take a very small dose for agitation, as tranqs are addictive and fuck up muscle recovery totally I didn't want these at all - they have a similar effect to tranqs without so much drowsiness) have an adverse effect on muscles, re stiffness, retarded recovery, less stretch etc, due to damping down the neural receptors that govern muscles as well as those they are supposed to hit (dopamine production) so the doc picked the one I am on due to it having the least such effect - something like halperidol, for example, would stiffen me up quite a lot, retard the stretch reflex, and make me vulnerable to injury. Plus I believe the British PL assoc ban ALL anti-psychs for some reason. Maybe they think it will stop psycho folks from getting big and strong .

But yes, I think what I will do when I enter my first meet is contact the organisers and discuss it with them. The meds in question are hardly performance-enhancing anyway!

 

[b fold the truth]

Good luck!!!

B True